The 2011 Trade Cherry Popped

Well, I thought I would get the ball rolling on the trading front for 2011. Last night I moved Luol Deng and Darren Collison for Dorell Wright and Francisco Garcia. Some will look at the deal and believe I got fleeced. Well, that could be the case. Or, it could be sheer genius for Golden and it could be the deal that cements Bangkok's position on top of the JBL standings. Bangkok does the deal because he gets Deng (a favorite of is even though he tried to convince me he doesn't like the guy) and he solidifies his weakest category ATO by getting Collison as well. So, why did I do the deal?

The first reason was to obtain Dorell Wright. He's $10 bucks and plays in Golden State's wide open offense. He also provides me the categories I need the most - steals and 3-point shooting. If I said at the beginning of the year that I would essentially be trading Deng for Wright I would have called myself crazy. Well now, let's look at their numbers for the 10/11 season.

PPG - Deng 18.2 - Wright 16.1
REB - Deng 6.0 - Wright 6.0
FG% - Deng 45.6 - Wright 42.1
3PT% - Deng 35.9 - Wright 40.8
ATO - Deng 1.058 - Wright 1.636
STL - Deng 25 - Wright 50
BLK - Deng 18 - Wright 27

Bottom line, Deng and Wright are VERY similar in stats but Dorell helps me in the 2 areas I need the most. Another factor in the deal was Golden having 3 Bulls on the squad. This deal diversifies my talent a little. And of course, yes, Golden is strongly considering keeping Wright for next season. He's just $10 bucks and other than FG% he helps your Fantasy team in every category.

Now, the 2nd part of the deal is where the deal appears to heavily favour Bangkok. This deal was initially going to be Ridnour for Garcia but ultimately Bangkok wanted Collison for Garcia. I'm OK with this as Collison has been disappointing and I don't like him in Indiana's current system. Frankly, I thought Ridnour would have helped Bangkok's ATO more as Collison has a 1.921 ATO and Ridnour's is 2.438.

Now, this deal from my perspective was against speculative because of Garcia's recent play. Garcia is now starting in Sacramento and the Kings have played better with him there. Hopefully he can remain a part of their starting lineup. However, even if he only is productive for a couple of weeks, by then, hopefully, I'll be able to re-insert a healthy Aaron Brooks into my lineup. Or I can go big with the return of Kendrick Perkins. But for now, I'm going with Garcia because he can shoot the 3 and get me more steals. Let's see how Garcia and Collison compare over their last 10 games.

Garcia - FG% 49%, 3PT% 48%, 11ppg, 3reb, 10stl, 9blk, 2.000 ATO
Collison - FG% 47%, 3PT% 36%, 13ppg, 4reb, 7stl, 0blk, 2.263 ATO

So you can see Garcia has been hot.
Who is the better fantasy player - without a doubt I will confirm it's Collison. However, it's January and my 3PT% sucks so it's time to try to make something happen. Again, if Garcia doesn't work out my fallback plan is Brooks or Perkins. So I am almost looking at this deal as Deng/Collison for Wright/Brooks or Wright/Perkins. It was worth the risk for me to try to improve in 3PT% and get another potential keeper for next season.

Now, the one down side to this deal (because it included Collison and not Ridnour) was that I am now under the $200 salary cap floor. I sit at $189 and need to add salary before Monday's scoring period begins.

I could sign a Free Agent (like Yao $12 or Haslem $10) and drop Beaubois and make a minor move. Or I can continue the revamp and move someone like Batum, Ibaka, Hawes, or Reddick. I offered them all up on the block. I have received several offers already.

French, Arctic, and Brussels have all submitted offers - some for players on the list and some for guys not on the list. I have also approached Belgrade, Brussels, Yuma and Juan de Fuca about potential deals.

The easiest way for me to get over the cap would be to move Batum ($1) for a guy like Troy Murphy ($28) or Jason Thompson ($28). But that depends on Brussels and Maui giving up on the potential of both those players being traded and being Fantasy relevant again. I don't believe either of those guys are options.

I could also approach Chilliwack for a player like Anthony Randolph. The Wack are free-falling in the JBL Standings due to injuries and he may be interested in adding a role player like Batum for a guy who is wasting away on his bench.

So, Saturday has become wheeling and dealing day and for a change it's a team trying to get UP to the salary floor rather than trying to get under the $300 salary cap. We'll see what Golden can do...